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However, I just got a fat bike with 4.5in tires. I know that my portable hand pump takes a long time to pump mountain bike tires due to it being optimized for high pressure / low volume. What type of portable pump should I carry in my toolkit when riding on the fat bike for emergency repairs and adjusting air pressure out on the trails away from the car or home?

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    Lezyne's Micro floor drive line and Topeak's Mountain Morph are probably your best bets - better than the regular hand pump but essentially as portable.
    – Batman
    Mar 24, 2015 at 21:01
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    Check out this article, Batman may have already, fat-bike.com/2013/06/fat-bike-101-pumps
    – DWGKNZ
    Mar 24, 2015 at 21:21
  • You definitely don't want one of the cheapie mini-pumps -- they take forever even with a skinny tire. You might want to consider CO2 cartridges instead (though you should use larger than normal cartridges).
    – Daniel R Hicks
    Mar 25, 2015 at 3:16
  • I never consider CO2 without a backup. It's too easy to mess up once and be stuck. Why not carry two CO2 then? Because that's as big as a compact pump. I might carry one for speed / convenience, but I always carry a pump (preferably one with a hose on it to make breaking the presta valve less likely).
    – Benzo
    Mar 25, 2015 at 14:13
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    They are also not as appropriate for snow (fat bike) riding when you are making frequent pressure changes to adapt to trail conditions.
    – Deleted User
    Mar 27, 2015 at 21:18

1 Answer 1

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I have/do carry an Lezyne Allow Drive pump. I have spent a lot of time pumping fat tires in really cold temperatures and although it's not as quick, it's compact and packs well. That Lezyne floor version doesn't look too bad, but it is still a bit big to pack for my tastes. It looks like they have a specific HV hand pump out that is designed like their others.

I would recommend against ANY pump with ANY plastic parts if you ever intend to ride in cold weather. I have seen far to many pumps (like the Mountain Morph) that have plastic parts get brittle in the cold and snap. Being able to pump up a tire in two minutes less doesn't mean anything if the pump breaks. I would only ever recommend pumps for cold weather that have a non-plastic screw on attachment and no plastic structural parts.

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  • Appreciate the comments on plastic bits. I do tend to ride in winter, though generally not below 10F. Still, I wouldn't want things snapping when I'm miles from home with a flat.
    – Benzo
    Mar 25, 2015 at 0:34
  • Even in the heat I would not recommend a plastic pump. If you are going to carry a pump carry a decent pump. Lenzyne are not cheap but they are nice. +1
    – paparazzo
    Mar 25, 2015 at 2:05
  • I've also broke the pump shaft on a road morph pump. I don't doubt I could do the same for a mountain morph. I've been pretty happy with the performance of my leyzene pressure drive, so I'll likely consider a pressure drive HV or the Micro floor drive hv.
    – Benzo
    Mar 27, 2015 at 15:21
  • FWIW, I got a Leyzene Micro Floor Drive HV. It works very well pumping fat bike tires and would recommend this to anyone needing a portable pump for fat bike usage. A friend of mine flatted both tires after hitting some glass on a recent ride and this worked well for patching two tubes and filling back to full pressure.
    – Benzo
    Mar 1, 2016 at 19:57

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